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The Best of the Sunny Raw KitchenThe Best of Raw Freedom CommunityDelightfully Raw andDeliciously RawThese feature some of the most delectable creations to have come out of my raw kitchen and will appeal to anyone interested in a healthier diet, regardless of their level of knowledge and experience. From easy one-step everyday fare to more elaborate and involved gourmet dishes and layered cakes, they offer something for everyone and every occasion. Incredibly tasty smoothies, creamy and comforting warm soups, sexy salads, delicious nut cheezes, satisfying entrees and scrumptious guilt-free desserts...

Tuesday, September 29, 2009

Alright, alright... I said I wouldn't be posting again for a while, but I just couldn't help myself. What is a raw gal to do? ;-)

The Sunny Raw Kitchen Live in Montreal!First of all, I'm excited to announce that, by special request, we'll be giving a raw food class in Montreal before we head off to the US. It has all come together so effortlessly (literally in a matter of days!), that we just couldn't refuse!

The class will take place on Friday Oct. 16th in the evening. If you live in the area and would like to join us, please drop me a line at:

sunnyrawkitchen(at)gmail(dot)com

Awesome Superfood SaleI also just found out that Matt is going nuts again over at The Raw Food World! This month, he's having an "At Cost" SUPERFOOD POWDER EXTRAVAGANZA!!!! Woo hoo

You can get an additional 7% off your order atThe Raw Food World by typing in - HONEYMOON - in the coup0n number section while checking out. This coup0n will be good through October 31st, 2009. Also, you can get 12% off your order and ALL FUTURE ORDERS by joining the Inner Circle Community HERE for ONLY $9.97 a month.

P.S. If you're planning on ordering from The Raw Food World and live somewhere along our itinerary, could you please send me an email? I'd have a special small request. ;-)

The Raw Divas Reunited?Man, the last few days have been so intense, with lots of thrilling new developments regarding our road trip. One of them being that my dear friend and raw kitchen buddy, Heathy, will be traveling to the US right around the same time as we will!!! But that's not all, can you believe she'll be making virtually all the same stops! A-maaaaaa-zing, eh!?! I've always known we share a special bond, but I gotta say this is pretty darn incredible! Talk about being connected! lol

Of course, we'd love to meet somewhere along the way. The good news is that it looks like we might be able to hook up in Washington, DC. All the details need to be worked out, but it's still such an exciting prospect, I just had to share! ;-)

OK, now I gotta seriously get back to packing as the countdown has begun in earnest. Only 1 week to go before we're back on the road! Hee hah!

Thursday, September 24, 2009

We're having a be-yu-ti-ful Indian Summer here in Quebec after a pretty much non-existent summer, so have been making the most of it. The leaves have already started changing colors. Gosh, how I missed those red hues! We don't get them much over in BC. Sure promises to be a visually stunning journey along the east coast! Yay!

The preps for our trip are coming right along. Everything is almost set: passports, furries are vaccinated, car is insured and our load is yet even lighter. (Man does it feel good to leave behind the unnecessary!) We've had a savory D day in order to stock up for the road. We made my new pizza crusts, Onion Bread, and the wonderful Rainbow Flax Crackers that my lovely friend Diana had given us when we saw her in Calgary.

I love how all the colors of the rainbow are represented in these delicious and flavor-full crackers; simply gorgeous! Yet another new staple!

3. Process all the vegetables individually in the food processor until finely chopped but not pureed. Add to the flax mixture.

4. Stir the flax mixture until well combined.

5. Using about 3 1/4 cups of the mixture and an offset spatula, spread the mixture about ¼” thick onto Teflex sheets on the dehydrating trays. Score into squares or triangl es with a plastic utensil so as not to damage the Teflex sheet.

6. dehydrate for at least 12 hours. The crackers easily separate from the Teflex sheets without stickiness, usually after 12 hours. Remove the dehydrator tray. Flip the crackers by placing a mesh and another tray on top of the crackers. Hold both sides of the sandwiched trays and flip them towards you so the top tray is now at the bottom. Remove the new top tray and the mesh. Now peel off the Teflex sheet from the crackers, which are now facing downward. Return the crackers to the dehydrator for approximately an additional 4 hours until completely dry.

7. Let cool before storing by leaving them on the dehydrator trays outside of the dehydrator or inside of the dehydrator with the door open.

8. Store crackers in an airtight container in a cool dark cupboard, fridge or freezer.

Enjoy them with Spicy Almond Cheeze or with a pâté. Crackers are also a wonderful accompaniment to soups and salads.

Variation: Grind 1 cup of the flax seeds and add to the soaked flax when adding the minced vegetables. Soak the remaining 3 cups of flax seeds in the 5 cups of water. The ground flax seeds will absorb the remaining water later.

Carmella's Notes:
~ I filled up closer to 5 trays with the batter, probably due to the size of the veggies I used.

~ Since Diana didn't specify what temperature to use, I dehydrated mine at 110. They were ready in about 18 hours.

~ The crackers' edges curled up on me. I'm wondering if it might have to do with dehydrating them at too high a temp. Hers were so perfect and flat! *scratching her head*

The Sunny Raw Kitchen Goes Live!
In spite of the busy-ness with our upcoming trip, I've managed to teach a raw food class at the local health food store. I had the jitters a bit - it being my first one ever and all! - but I think the class went rather well. I mean, other than my constant searching for the words in French, that is!
I still don't know how to translate "process" as in "process until smooth". All suggestions welcome! lol

My intention was to pass along some super easy yet delish recipes that can be prepared in just a few minutes with the help of a blender (or in my case, my trusted Vitamix.) I was a little worried that the participants would be too full to try the different yummies I demonstrated, but thankfully there was plenty of room left for all the sampling!

Pouring a Cream of Tomato Soup for them to enjoy!

We ended the demo on a sweet note with a Mango Pudding (all ready to go in the V) and a Raspberry Jam that I mixed by hand.

Yay, I did it! I finally broke the veil between my 'virtual' teaching and the 'real world'. ;-)

Sunny Raw Kitchen Tour Itinerary
As I always remind myself, the best way to make God laugh is to make plans! lol

With this trip, we're doing our best to draw a general picture, leaving plenty of room for Life's unexpected surprises. Having said that, our tentative plan is to leave my sister's place in order to visit my parents in about 2 weeks time, then to head for the US around Oct. 15th, the Mystery willing. We'll basically be traveling down the east coast, then along the southern states, and finally make our way back up to BC.

There's several stops that have been taking shape and undoubtedly more will reveal themselves as we go. So far, here's what our itinerary looks like...

We'll be having some kind of raw get together in most of those places, so send me an email if you'd like to be kept posted. Also, if you live somewhere along the way and would like to hook up or even help put together an event, please drop us a line at:

sunnyrawkitchen(at)gmail(dot)com

Tour Launching Party
And since 'Departure Day' is approaching quickly, I thought we ought to throw a going away party before we take off for our big journey!

The package is normally available for a sliding scale starting at $19.98, but for this special occasion, from now until we leave my sister's place on October 7th, you can purchase it for only $15.99!

To order my ebook package, simply click on the link below and make your donation via Paypal.

The downloading instructions for the ebooks will be sent to your inbox shortly after you've completed your payment. (If you don't receive it, you might want to make sure it hasn't been sent to your SPAM or junk folder!)

Our Current Faves
Lastly, it just came to me that it would be fun to share our current favorite recipes with y'all from time to time. You know how we all tend to get on a kick for a while...

Now, how about leaving a comment telling us about your current faves and get a chance to win a new ebook I'm currently working on. It's actually a very selfish enterprise I've been meaning to compile for some time now as I'm getting tired of having to look for recipes among a bunch of ebooks and websites. And so I've decided to put all my favorite recipes in a single document for easy reference. This will sure come in handy, especially once we're mobile again and won't necessarily have access to the net.

I'll be accepting entries until we leave Canada, roughly around October 16th, and will announce the winner on my blog and on Raw Freedom Communinity.

Alrighty, I guess that's about it for now. The weeks to come will undoubtedly be very intense with limited online access, so I may not be around for a while. I'll be taking lots of photos along the way and will do my best to report back on how it's unfolding as soon as I can!

Until then, wishing you heaps of fun in your raw kitchens and looking forward to meeting some of you on our journey!

Monday, September 7, 2009

In my last post, I was telling you that I was given a basket of freshly picked wild blueberries by a friend. I was ecstatic! He had also brought along a semi-cooked blueberry pie which I took on to recreate in the raw. It consisted of a simple custard (blueberries, flour, brown sugar and lemon juice) thickened on the stove after which was added whole raw blueberries. The mixture was then poured into a regular crust that had been pre-baked and set in the fridge.

"Rawifying" this pie was a breeze! My blueberry filling was inspired by Sweet Gratitude's wonderful Strawberry Brilliance Pie which was still fresh on my taste bud memory.

"Oh wow!" is all I can say! The perfect way to honor Nature's amazing bounty!

At this point, I strongly recommend doing a small test to make sure the consistency is right.

Pour 1/2 cup or so of the filling into a bowl and let set in the fridge for 20 minutes. Take it out and cut into it with a knife. If the knife comes out clean and the mixture is firm, the consistency is right. Just add the test portion back to the blender and process briefly. If it's too wet, place test portion back in the blender and add 2 tbs coconut oil. Process until smooth. You could re-test the mixture if you wish but it's probably going to be fine.

Once you're happy with your filling, transfer the mixture to a large bowl and fold in 3 cups of fresh blueberries.

Carmella's Note:
In my experience, Irish moss can be a bit tricky to work with. It can loose some of its gelatinous properties if you soak it for too long or rinse it under warm water. The method that has been working best for me is to soak the moss in water at room temperature for 3-3 1/2 hours. I then rinse it under cold running water to get the little grits and unwanted bits off. Voila! It's ready to be used! I leave whatever moss I don't use in an airtight container (without water) in the fridge.

Assembly
Press crust mixture into a pie plate. (I used a 9" plate with removable bottom.)

Thursday, September 3, 2009

Thought I'd take a little break from all the busy-ness to bring you up to date, as once again, the photos are starting to pile up. ;-)

Sunny Raw Kitchen Tour
In case you missed our big news, we're planning to travel around the US this fall and winter. (The Mystery willing of course!) We'd like to begin by thanking all those who have so kindly responded to our last post. The itinerary is slowly starting to take shape. (Hee hah!) As you can imagine, right now our plates are pretty full, but we'll be in touch with you all as soon as we can. ;-)

It looks like we'll most likely be heading down along the east coast to start, then gradually make our way west through the southern states, and eventually back up the west coast. At this point, we're looking at heading off sometime after the middle of October, if all goes well.

The Flood!
Now let's backtrack a little... In my previous episode of What's Uncookin' Good Lookin'?, I was telling you that it rained so much this summer that Beauchastel Lake's level was getting dangerously close to our tent. Well, wouldn't you know it that a couple of days later, our entire camping spot was under a good 6" of water! Good thing we'd been sleeping inside my sister's house, waiting for our foamy to dry!

The path that led to our tenting spot...

The actual spot where our tent was.

We had moved the tent inside the gazebo we'd set up as our living room as it was slightly dryer, but it didn't do much good, as you can see...

By the time what we've nicknamed 'The Flood' was over, the water level had risen a total of 3 feet. We had to abandon our lovely lakeside site and have been sleeping indoors since. It sure didn't take long for Puss to get used to home comforts once again; she quickly found new cozy spots to lounge in.

At some point, we did manage to get 5 full sunny days in a row (woo hoo!) which gave a good boost to our little garden.

Celebrating Life!
A couple of weeks ago, although there was no special occasion, Don and I enjoyed a feast, complete with lovely sparkling apple juice and all! I guess you could say that having some sunshine was a good enough reason to celebrate! lol We started the meal with a new concoction I made with fava beans. I've grown up with a traditional cooked fava beans soup, typical of Lac St-Jean, the area I'm originally from, but had never had a chance to play with these raw. The result was a fairly hearty and filling soup with a subtle herb flavor. Dehydrating the beans first helped take some of the 'beanie' taste away.

* Combine crust ingredients in food process and process until it holds together as a dough. Add extra coconut or other grated nut if mixture is too sticky.

Carmella's Notes:
~ I found the mixture to be way too wet so ended up adding 2 cups dried coconut. As a result, my crust was quite thick; I suppose I could have not used it all but I didn't think of it at the time. ;-)

~ An easy way to solve the issue would be to reduce the amount of water for soaking the chia seeds.

Carmella's Note:
~ I dehydrated the pie for an hour or so and while it did help evaporate some of the excess moisture in the filling, the pieces didn't keep their shape well once cut. We had some again the next day and discovered that the fridge took care of the latter issue. Yay!

Farewell Ti-NoursWhen we first arrived at Josee's, we were greeted by Ti-Nours, a young and lively Golden lab. In the weeks that followed, Ti-Nours quickly became a member of our furry crew, joining in Kylo's mostly raw diet and joyfully coming along on our daily walks. About 10 days ago, during a special expedition up a nearby mountain, Ti-Nours ran off and, we later found out, got into some garbage. Immediately after returning, he started being sick and was unable to hold down any food or water. When we realized that he wasn't getting any better, we booked an appointment with the vet, but as it turned out, Ti-Nours had departed this realm during the night. ;-( Needless to say that we were all in shock at how swiftly this all unfolded.

This was taken only a week before...

Ti-Nours was a sweet doggie with a good heart and spirit. We'll all miss him.

Say It With Raw Sweets
On a happier note, last week we had the surprise visit of my parents. It was nice to get a chance to connect with them again so soon since my sprint to Montreal in July felt way too short. As they say, "it's an ill wind that doesn't blow anybody any good", and so all the rain made for a bountiful raspberry crop. Jeanne and I went berry picking on a few occasions in the nearby bushes. "Red manna!", as Jeanne called it.

My parents were meeting Don and the furries for the very first time. In spite of the language barrier (my parents don't speak English and Don's French is, well, limited would be a kind way to put it. lol), it all worked out as there was a designated translator: moi. ;-)

I was glad for the opportunity to finally be able to treat my parents to some decadent yet healthy raw desserts! I decided to resort to my favorite recipe book, Sweet Gratitude, which contains so many amazing gems!

The week before, I had a chance to practice some more with Irish moss and made their scrumptious Cappucino Pie. As Don and I react badly to caffeine, I subbed the coffee called for in the recipe with 2 tbs of coffee extract. As it turned out, we could still feel the effects, but it was so yummy that we figured it was worth it.

We don't have access to young coconuts here (boo hoo) so I used coconut butter in the meringue instead. It still worked nicely.

Pumped up by this success, I proceeded to tackle the Strawberry Brilliance Pie, which I was planning to serve to my parents on the day of their arrival. To my dismay, as I was getting ready to plate the pie, I realized that the filling hadn't firmed up properly (eek!). I recovered quickly from the set back though as I had another dessert up my sleeve: Sweet Gratitude's Banana Chocolate Cheesecake. For the crust, I used a mixture of pecans and walnuts, and reduced the amount of cacao powder to 1 1/2 ounces. In spite of this last minute change of plans, dessert was a hit.

Don and I enjoyed the left-overs with Heathy's wonderful Chocolate Sauce. Heavenly!

During the night, I somehow remembered something I read in Sweet Gratitude when I first browsed through it. With desserts using mostly Irish moss, due to its versatility and how tricky it can be, it's a good idea to let a small sample set in the fridge for 20 minutes in order to make sure that the consistency is right. If it isn't firm enough, they suggest to adding more coconut oil to the mixture and blending it again thoroughly. Am I ever glad this 'brilliant' (pun intended lol) tip came back to me! It did the trick!!! Woo hoo!

I can't begin to describe how insanely good this pie is! A must must try!

And soooooo beautiful to boot!

Believe it or not, even though they were with us for less than a week, I managed to whip up a third dessert for my parents. This one wasn't planned; we just found ourselves with heaps of ripe peaches all at once! I made Mishka's famous Peach Cobbler which remains my favorite way of enjoying peaches in a dessert.

I think those sweet raw treats must have won my dad's taste buds and tummy, as he asked if he could move in with us. lol

Toasty Feetsies
Although the sun has been peeking out more often lately, you just can't deny how the air is getting considerably cooler. (sigh) We even had frost one morning! Eeek! So since autumn is starting to creep in, I thought I'd pass on this recent find. A few days ago, I discovered these awesome ugg boots by a company called Whooga. They're made with super thick merino sheepskin (to keep your toes cool in the summer and toasty in the winter) and are available in several models and colors. Trendy yet practical and comfy. Sure would LOVE a pair for myself! (Hear that Santa?) And the best part: Whooga is having a giveaway every month for a pair of these beauties! Anyhoo, 'nugh said. You can check them out for yourself!

Blue Heaven
I'll leave you on a sweet note... I received the best gift EVER last week: a friend of mine brought me a huge basket of wild blueberries he'd picked. (Thanks Fernand! ;-) ) Oh my! I thought I'd died and gone to heaven! He had also brought a semi-raw blueberry pie which I took on to recreate in the raw with his precious offering.

Pure Bliss!

Hum, I had every intention of posting the recipe but I'm running out of time, as we're going to town to get our passport applications sorted out...

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